by Hall, Linsey
The man lowered the hatch and covered it with straw. The hoof beats were nearly here. My heart thundered as I listened for whatever was coming.
The man and woman hurried away from the outbuilding.
“They have no reason to suspect us,” the woman whispered. “We’ve done nothing wrong. They must let us go.”
“You know they don’t need proof of what we are. Or proof of wrongdoing.” The man leaned over and pulled the woman to him, then pressed a hard kiss to her forehead. “I love you, Lily Crane.”
She squeezed him, blinking back tears, and they hurried toward their house.
Just as they were re-entering, a dozen mounted men arrived in the small clearing. They wore old style armor and had full beards, and they formed a circle around Felix and Lily and the house.
“Felix and Lily Crane?” the biggest man demanded.
“We are not them,” the man said.
“We have reports that two FireSouls have been living on this land. We have orders to locate them and treat them appropriately,” he said.
Felix opened his mouth as if he were going to speak, but he raised a hand and threw a massive fireball at the leader. Magic rose in the air, many signatures at once. Scents, sounds, feelings.
Lily’s body glowed as smoke rose up from the forest floor, obscuring her and Felix. The horses stomped their hooves as their riders leapt off.
They stalked toward the gray cloud that hid Lily and Felix. Balls of flame and smoke burst from the cloud, heading straight for the advancing attackers.
A burst of burning smoke landed right in front of us, singeing my clothes. I stumbled back and coughed.
“Is that supposed to happen?” I asked. If they couldn’t see us, should we be able to feel the smoke blast?
“No!” Corin waved her hand so that the vision of the past disappeared. The smoke cloud, cottage, and Shifters disappeared.
On the other side of the clearing, only a dozen yards away, stood four shadow demons.
“What the hell?” I drew my daggers from my thigh sheaths.
Before I could fling Righty, something bowled into me from behind. I crashed to the ground, skidding on leaves and roots that scratched my skin. My head rang from the force of the blow, and my chest ached. My shirt was singed and my skin burned, but it was the ache in my sides that made me wheeze. The blast was strong enough to crack ribs. I ignored the pain and scrambled to my feet.
We were back in the real world and were surrounded by shadow demons. Del yanked her short sword out of its scabbard and turned into a phantom while Corin pulled her two swords off her back and threw herself at a pair of nearby shadow demons. Nix conjured a bow and arrow, knelt, and fired straight into a demon’s throat. The arrow plowed through and sunk into a tree behind him.
I flung Righty, piercing the heart of a nearby demon. He grunted as he dropped heavily to his knees, then keeled over. Demons fell to our blades as we dodged their blasts of smoke.
When one of them got the drop on Nix, bowling her over with smoke and then leaping on top of her with his dagger raised, I kicked him off, then stabbed him in the neck. Warm blood sprayed me in the face and I gagged, spitting out the disgusting stuff.
I was a pro. I should remember to keep my mouth closed when I stabbed necks. I grabbed my dagger and rolled off him.
“Thanks.” Nix panted as she scrambled up. “Looks like five down, two to go.”
Corin drew both blades across the neck of a nearby demon, grinning in victory. His head toppled to the ground. Behind her, Del went corporeal long enough to stab a demon through the back. She twisted the blade, pulled it free, then kicked the demon in the back so that he crashed onto his face.
“Check them for transport charms,” I said.
Quickly, we rummaged through their pockets.
“Found one!” Nix raised it high, her bare arm showing the distinctive red burn mark of the shadow demon’s smoke.
“Me too.” Corin stood.
“I’m empty.” Del limped toward me, her hand to her side.
“You okay?” I asked as I peered down at my charred shirt. I was still decent, but barely.
“Yeah, just got blasted while I was corporeal. Cracked rib, maybe.”
I knew the feeling. My own ribs were aching, a sharp pain coming from the lower left. I breathed shallowly so as not to disturb it as I patted down the last demon, disappointed to find no charms. We were lucky to have found two, considering.
“Let’s get out of here,” Corin said. “I don’t know how they showed up, but I don’t want to meet any more.”
“Victor Orriodor has a seer hunting me,” I said. “Sometimes they get lucky and see through my concealment charm.”
“Shitty concealment charm,” Corin said.
“Didn’t used to be.” I joined her under a big tree, Nix and Del at my side. Del and I had our arms wrapped around our middles, trying to lessen the pain of our cracked ribs. Nix blew on her burned arm, though from the grimace on her face, it wasn’t doing much good.
Corin tossed the stone to the ground. When the glittery gray cloud poofed up, we walked into it. Normally I’d hate to waste a transport charm when Del could take us, but if Corin was willing to use her charm, we’d let her. Then Del could save her power for an emergency.
We stepped out on the other side, in the FireSoul Compound. The sun was still shining and the birds still chirping.
“Did we see what we needed to back there?” I asked.
“I’m sure you can guess what happened,” Corin said.
“They killed Felix and Lily for being FireSouls.”
“Did they find Argus?” Nix asked.
“No. Though he came out to find his parents dead.”
I could hardly imagine how horrible that would have been. The poor kid would be scarred for life.
“Why did you show us this?” I asked.
“Because that boy no longer goes by the name Argus. He is Victor Orriodor.”
CHAPTER NINE
“Right. Of course,” I said. Figured. “So we just witnessed his Super Villain origin story?”
Corin nodded. “Pretty much.”
“Makes me almost feel bad for the guy,” Nix said.
“Bad for the kid, maybe. Victor Orriodor is no longer that boy,” Del said.
“That’s for sure.” I fiddled with the holstered dagger at my thigh. “So what happened after that?”
“Considering that you’re currently a magnet for shadow demons, it’s unsafe to bring you there to see for yourself. I don’t fancy another fight. But we can go to the library, and the historian will tell you.”
“And then you’ll tell me how to get my power back?” I asked. I wanted to learn Victor Orriodor’s past—Corin was right, understanding him would help me defeat him—but all the magic here at the FireSoul compound was like a blade to my heart. I felt the loss of mine even more keenly.
“Yes,” Corin said. “At least, as much as we know. Which I doubt is as much as you want to know.”
Damn. “Let’s get started, then.”
“I’ll take you to the infirmary first. Get those wounds looked at.” She indicated my charred t-shirt currently flaking away from my chest. “Maybe get you a fresh shirt so your striptease doesn’t go all the way.”
I grinned and wanted to argue, that we should get a move on with the information, but she was right. If I was ambushed again, it’d be hard to fight with cracked ribs. And I did need a fresh shirt.
We made our way across the courtyard and into a small round building. Inside, everything was white and bright, from the walls to the four narrow beds. Even the healer was a pale man with white-gold hair, as if he, too, had been scrubbed clean.
Boris, as I learned he was called, healed us all quickly with little more than a touch. Aidan had a bit of the same healing ability, but Boris was the real deal.
“Thank you,” I said as we left.
He inclined his head, in keeping with his earlier silence.
I felt immensely bett
er as Corin handed me a fresh shirt and then led us into the biggest building I’d seen yet. The massive wooden doors gave way to a huge oval-shaped room. Within was the largest, most fantastic library I’d ever seen. Bookshelves climbed to the ceiling three stories overhead with seven spiral staircases leading to balconies that provided access to the books. The middle of the room was dotted with round tower-shaped bookcases that extended two stories up. Chairs and tables were scattered in between.
“This way.” Corin led the way between the towers.
In the middle of the room, a young woman sat at one of the tables. She had pale green hair and pointed ears. A fae or pixie of some kind. Though she looked young, she had a timeless quality about her. Fae lived a long time. I’d put money on her being as old as the building.
“Flora?” Corin said. “We’re here to ask you some questions.”
Flora looked up at us, blinking wide green eyes. They were slightly blank, as if she’d been in another world inside her head. Even when she looked at us, they didn’t focus.
“Yes?” Her voice was vague somehow, as if she were only partially here.
Yeah, she made an appropriate historian for a place like this.
“Sit.” Corin gestured to us and the chairs across from Flora.
We sat on the hard wooden surfaces. Flora had turned back to reading her book.
“We don’t like to have to ask Flora unless we must,” Corin murmured. “She prefers to be left alone. But with the demons hunting you… This is better. I don’t know the whole story or I would tell you.”
“Flora?” Corin asked.
Flora looked up, eyes slightly blank. “Yes?”
“Could you tell us about Victor Orriodor’s history with the League of FireSouls?”
Flora sat back in her chair and gazed into the distance. Her voice sounded far away when she spoke. “At that time, he was called Argus. Five hundred years ago, before we became the League of FireSouls, there was Callum McCord.”
Behind Flora, the air shimmered. Her magic floated on the air, the scent of old books and the sound of rustling pages flowing with it. A hazy apparition of a man appeared. He was massive and heavily bearded, his body draped in an old-style cloak.
He must be Callum McCord, and Flora had a crazy ability to project the past. It was different than Corin’s gift. Callum was much less substantial, and he was brought to life by nothing more than Flora’s words.
“Callum was a FireSoul,” Flora said. “But he was also a leader. During his time, it was nearly impossible to live alone. Farming, trading, working, and living—it was all done as a group. This made it difficult for FireSouls to hide from those who persecuted them.”
Which was everyone—just like today.
“Callum found FireSouls and offered them a place on his land. He lived in a remote part of Ireland. A peninsula that juts into the sea. There, the FireSouls could live as normal people, dividing the labor as others did, and living more than a scrabbling existence.”
Behind her appeared a hazy apparition of a group of people sitting around a rustic dining table. All ages, all clearly coming together after a hard day’s work.
“One day, the man who would become Victor Orriodor appeared on their land. He was a FireSoul as well, but he did not seek asylum. He sought vengeance.”
Behind Flora, an enraged man appeared. Though her apparition emitted no sound, he was clearly ranting and raving, his hands gesturing wildly. He looked little like the boy I had seen earlier and more like the man I knew today, though he was still young.
“He thought they would help him obtain vengeance for the death of his parents,” Flora continued. “They hid out on this remote bit of land because they were persecuted. Attack the persecutors, he said, and be able to live like normal people.”
Except that the persecutors were everybody. The Order of the Magica and the Alpha Council may have enforced the laws that FireSouls were scum, but the regular folk propped up that belief with their fear and distrust.
“Of course, he was wrong,” Flora said.
Behind her, the people at the table shook their heads, rising to their feet and physically evicting Argus when he wouldn’t relent.
“When Argus couldn’t find the help he needed, he turned to taking it,” Flora said. “He used his FireSoul power in a way that most would never dream. He became what everyone feared, stealing dozens of powers.”
And killing everyone he took them from.
“It drove him slightly mad,” Flora said. “But in a calm, cold way.”
Behind her, Argus appeared, looking older and wearier than before, but with a stern determination in his eyes and a cunning intelligence. I shivered.
“Callum McCord knew that something had to be done,” Flora said. “Argus was responsible for many Magica and Shifter deaths, but worse, from Callum’s perspective, was that Argus fueled the tide of suspicion and hatred for FireSouls. He was everything that they feared, and as a result, the Alpha Council and Order of the Magica cracked down on FireSouls even harder. Callum’s settlement was at risk if he didn’t do something.”
An image of the FireSoul compound formed behind her.
“So he formed this place and began the battle against Argus, attempting to foil Argus’s goals.” Her gaze focused on me. It appeared that story time was over, and I was meant to engage.
“Which were what?” I asked.
“Vengeance.”
“Against who?”
“Whoever persecuted him. But as you saw in Corin’s projection, we do not know who they were. Or what Argus’s end goal was.”
“Why hasn’t he accomplished it yet? It’s been hundreds of years.”
“Callum successfully stopped him. For a time. They put him into a magical stupor meant to last forever. He was too powerful to kill, but they could entomb him. For hundreds of years, he has been asleep.” Flora looked at Corin. “You may finish, as this was within your time.”
Corin nodded. “He woke twenty years ago. We don’t know how, but he did. I was very young then, and my parents part of the League. He took the name Victor Orriodor. We think it was to hide his origin from us. But we discovered it and have been attempting to stop him ever since.”
“Stop him from what?” I asked.
“His vengeance. Though I fear his goal is even greater. He knew enough to kidnap the Triumvirate.” She gestured to the three of us. “It can’t be coincidence. Though we don’t know what he wants with you.”
“Can’t be good,” Del muttered.
“Nope.” I blew out a breath. So, this wasn’t great.
Somehow, knowing about his past made him that much more real and much more terrifying. And he was already plenty terrifying to begin with. Not to mention that he’d killed my parents. Whether it had been his hand or another, they had died attempting to rescue us from him.
“This shit just got real,” Nix muttered.
“No kidding.”
“How do we stop him?” Del asked.
“No idea,” Corin said. “After our numbers were decimated trying to save you from his compound, we haven’t had the manpower or the skills to find out. Your arrival here marks a turning point.”
Talk about pressure. “And my power? Do you know how I can get it back? Or what my root power was?”
“We know neither,” Corin said. “We believe that your root power is something no one’s ever seen. But it’s quite a personal thing. Your parents never said—if they even knew. But we can point you in the right direction to find answers, so that perhaps you can find out for yourself.”
“Then which direction do I go?”
“I will get it.” Flora rose and moved gracefully toward the corner of the library. Her movements were as eerily calm as her eyes, almost as if she were half-spirit of some kind.
She returned with a rolled up scroll. The paper was yellowed at the edges, the wooden dowel at either end a simple stick rather than the ornately carved ones seen on many scrolls.
Corin mo
ved aside some books to clear a space on the table, and Flora unrolled the scroll, pressing it flat against the wood.
Corin held it open while Flora pointed. “You need to go there.”
It was a map—an old one, from the looks of it. The squiggles and lines made no sense to me, though. “Where?”
“The passage tomb where the seer had her vision. You should be able to find answers there.”
I sure hoped so. I didn’t know if finding out about my root power would help me get rid of the Nullifier’s awful power, but it was the only direction I had to go, so that was where I was headed.
We arrived at the Black Fort at sunset. The blazing orange ball was setting behind the cliffs to the west, shining a hazy orange light across the small field of wildflowers that surrounded the statues. The stone wall of the fort rose high, blocking us from the rest of the island. Protecting us.
“Cass!” Aidan loped across the grass toward me and scooped me up in his arms, hugging me tight.
“Oof.” He was strong as a freaking bear. “Whoa there, big guy. I’m all right.”
He pulled back, his brow quirked. “I know. You’re too tough to kill. But I’m glad to see you whole all the same.”
I grinned and pulled back. I may not have gotten all the answers I’d wanted, but I was farther along than I had been. And the info about Victor Orriodor might come in handy somehow.
Claire approached, her sunglasses propped on her dark hair. “Success?”
“Sort of. We’ve got another place to go.”
“Good,” Connor said. “I’ve got a hankering to see the world.”
“You sure you don’t need to get back to P & P?” I asked.
He scowled. “Don’t get me wrong. P & P is my baby, but you need us more than the shop right now.”
“Thanks.” Warmth filled me. They’d proven again and again that they had my back, but every time felt pretty amazing.
“And I’m sorry to say we won’t exactly be seeing the world.” Del raised the scroll. “These are our directions, and it looks like we’re headed south.”
Aidan reached for the scroll, and Del handed it over. He unrolled it and frowned at the map, then flipped it over. Understanding filled his eyes.
